#Manjusaka | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bonnieisaway · 3 months

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anyways while I was editing earlier we have almost a precise ranking of power for the shadow killers despite most of them not actually ever saying/their official ranking never been mentioned. and most of this is either just mentioned in passing or can be guessed from the way the show presents them. up to season 4 spoilers ahead btw

so like, obviously Seven (in his prime, at least - do you think the second spot ever took his when he disappeared btw? like do you think there was a time where he was just labelled missing for ages before somebody else became number one?) was rank number one, it's said and talked about like a million times, Seven was conclusively the highest ranked and most powerful shadow killer by 18 years old.

along with this we hear one other thing: Green Phoenix is mentioned to be the (physically) weakest Shadow Killer. given how much people are sticklers for the rankings we can presume this puts him at the lowest of the seven, even if he chose to appear weaker than he is and his focus is majorly on cunning and wit rather than martial prowess, I assume this is where he's offically ranked honestly

everyone else has never had their number mentioned - or if it was said in some obscure place i don't know it's not on the wiki, but let's be fucking for real nothing is on the wiki seriously one of us might wanna update that thing one day anyways - but I believe we can roughly guess where the rest of the killers rank given by their actions in the show and the order which the show presents them.

which - this might be a controversial one tbh - puts Redtooth fairly low on the list. he is physically more powerful than Green Phoenix, but Green Phoenix is able to outwit Redtooth twice, and Green Phoenix is technically the one who kills Redtooth. But also, Seven at fairly low strength was able to fight Redtooth and almost won on his own. Redtooth is also mentioned in season 4 that naturally, he was physically weak and actually struggled with picking up qi and such - he does not have a natural nor honed talent and his power ENTIRELY relies on the Blood Demon inside him. So he's easily outwitted, he's physically weak without the Blood Demon which, up until season 4 was still restrained heavily, Seven is able to handle him all the way back in season two. Notably, Dai Bo and the rest of the cast are unable to handle him however, even though most of them are built to handle aggressive opponents liked Redtooth.

But it's mainly the fact he appears and is 'defeated' so early in the show that makes me truly believe he ranks so low. Obviously we probably haven't seen the full capabilities of Redtooth and most of the cast however, and this is a ranking with the seal. Obviously he seems to be set up to absolutely rock White Fox's shit in season 5, but it's still really important to keep in mind that this is purely the Blood Demon.

after him the other shadow killer we have the most information on is Blackbird, who Seven ultimately beat into the fuckin ground but boy did we sure almost die getting there!!

So from what we know about Blackbird, from season three, is that unlike Redtooth, he is physically strong, and similar to Green Phoenix he's largely driven by his trauma and his need to validate something that's missing within him, but his weakness seems to really only be his own ego - his weakness (aside from the sun like a fucking vampire. cringelord) is when he can't win, when he is struggling, his frustration is ultimately his downfall. This is one of - if not the only - few fights where 'prime' Seven - or even just Seven as he is now - does not appear to be physically stronger than somebody, and he's actually just barely faster than Blackbird (being able to fucking FLY he's still got a bit of an advantage but Seven's reaction time is evidently quicker, and Blackbird comments that Seven's ambushes and speed used to be infamous - a prowess that Blackbird is almost capable to keep up with) but he wins the fight with wit and outsmarting them. And ultimately, Blackbird's weakness was himself.

Which is a lot to say he's really strong. But it's hard to place him anywhere on the leaderboard without a key thing that Manjusaka says:

"It seems you're the best after all," as she turns to Blackbird. This is (presumably) the direct translation, because in English Manjusaka actually says something different that I wanna touch on again later, but she turns to Blackbird and says he's the best after all. Which would imply: Blackbird took the spot for number one when Seven was missing. Blackbird had been second to Seven in the league - and some of his contempt for Seven may be because of that. This conclusively puts Blackbird in the number two spot for me.

The next three we have even less information on, so it's really hard to put them in precise spots. As for Manjusaka though we have this: she is very cunning and manipulative, and the other Shadow Killer we know to be infamous for their cunning and wit was the lowest ranked - because the ranks seem to have FAR more value in raw martial prowess and strength than wit. Along with this, Manjusaka never actually works alone. In English in season 3, when she turns to Blackbird, she says "I guess we're just better together," which puts a lot of emphasis on her working with somebody, and emphasis on the fact that she's USING the fact that Blackbird is so high rank so that she can be powerful by proxy. She's also the only one who seems to defend her other Shadow Killers - though they aren't immune to her own scrutiny, Manjusaka outright kills three people for shit-talking Redtooth.

Along with this - Manjusaka dies to Green Phoenix (coughprobablycough) and leaves her as an opponent Seven will never (probably) fight. The Shadow Killers have kept appearing in an order of higher and higher ranking, and Manjusaka is the third to ever appear, and of the three, ALL THREE have died and one came back. Just like, the order these characters have appeared in, they usually appear in increasing power and every season has ended with Seven fighting or about to fight a new, powerful Shadow Killer. Manjusaka dying already leaves her feeling fairly low ranked, given the pattern the show has exhibited.

Manjusaka is also tied to Shimen and are inseparable - what Shimen and Manjusaka lack the other make up for. Shimen appears slow yet viciously strong and stone faced, he's nothing but muscle and qi, and Manjusaka is fast and stealthy - she teleports around, she uses deception and poisons to best her enemies. They're also hardly ever depicted apart. They're only separated twice - when Shimen leaves the fight with Blackbird due to general disinterest, and when Shimen and Manjusaka split up in season 4.

(these two symbols fading into each other feel like they represent Manjusaka and Shimen)

They're constantly depicted together and fluently work together. They coordinate easily when that's not the normal for the Shadow Killers - infighting is banned and that's it, they aren't required to get along. But these two are two inseparable halves of one whole, they are both arguably strong on their own but they have glaring weaknesses that the other fills. Their weaknesses, to a point, are when they're separated. This also would seemingly put them next to each other on the ranking - together it feels like they make up one, unstoppable person, and it makes sense that separately they are at similar ranking/strength, just simply excel together, and weaker rankings would be the most likely to bond together to form stronger ones.

Not to mention, Manjusaka dies on screen at the end of the season four and that's it, and Shimen's fate is left entirely unknown because he doesn't appear again and only the leader approaches Green Phoenix. But during the opening for the entire season we see one shot of Shimen we never actually see during the season:

Shimen left alone and unconscious without Manjusaka. And he leaves the Blackbird fight unharmed, he obviously leaves the encounter with Ouyang Zang (is that his name ? straight up might've misspelled it sorry ) alive because he appears again afterwards, and it seems to imply that without Manjusaka, Shimen is left weak and vulnerable. So these two, to me, feel like they're exactly next to each other on the rankings - and possibly ranked somewhere in the middle

Which now only leaves White Fox, who we know the least about personality wise but we've seen some of his martial abilities (AKA: hey guys I can make a nitrogen bomb from my finger. wanna see) and watched him fight the prince of Stan, which does lead to the conclusion that he is fairly powerful, though it seems it's not really physical strength but his qi, speed, and reflexes that let him overpower his opponents. Given the rankings I've given the other Shadow Killers it naturally leaves him at a semi-high spot.

Which leaves me with my final (guesstimated) ranking of the Shadow Killers, with Seven during his prime, Redtooth's seal still not broken:

Seven

Blackbird

White Fox

Shimen

Manjusaka

Redtooth

Green Phoenix

Shimen and Manjusaka feel interchangeable in their spots, honestly? And I would almost put Redtooth above Manjusaka ...? But it kind of feels natural that he's below her. Also, I went back and skimmed the show to see if anybody else was introduced by ranking, given that a lot of people in the show had been previously, and I only found these scenes:

Which are all only labelled 'the seven greats' according to the translation, unless somebody here speaks Chinese and their rankings are actually said/implied in the Chinese characters and Netflix just didn't translate it which wouldn't even surprise me honestly Netflix just fucking does that sometimes

so yea 👍 that's my estimation on the rankings of the Shadow Killers maybe the show will prove me right eventually. this post took me like 2 hours to make. help

#scissor seven #killer seven #wu liuqi #seven #scissor 7 #analysis #manjusaka #blackbird #white fox #green phoenix #shimen #redtooth #bonnie is once again going stir crazy without content #absolutely nobody is surprised #honestly the rankings feel kind of weird #i supposed they're based only off kills or something similar.. ?#or maybe it's because we haven't seen the full potential of a lot of characters #but majusaka lowkey feels like she should be SO much lower #and shimen should be SO much higher #and i dont even know how redtooth truly is a shadow killer. i'm thinking the last one before redtooth called in sick /j #i mean they are all undoubtedly insanely powerful #i think just analyzing their combat and how theyre talked about for #the past 2 hours of my life has mentally isolated me from the fact that these are the 7 best in the world

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bonnieisaway · 4 months

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Hi ! I am so happy to meet other people liking scissors seven ! The joy is enormous ! Anyway I was wondering about your thoughts on the Xuanwu assassins mostly the ones like Blackbird, the red woman (forgot her name), Red Tooth, Green Phoenix, etc

HELLO :33 okay this post might get really long

as for Blackbird: honestly I don't have too many thoughts on him... fucking LOVE his design though. and his backstory is super cool and I love how subtle his motivations are but how obvious it feels to any viewer why he's doing the things he does and why it makes sense. Over the course of the end of season 3 and the start of season 4, Blackbird starts the fight saying he doesn't want the money, he wants Seven to die slowly and painfully at his hands. and then by the end of it, he's saying "Your death will be quick, I promise you." And it's kind of subtle as to why his attitude changed but uses his backstory to illustrate his personality and motivations so much. He wants to be the hero. He wants to be selfless and say - "oh, I don't care for the reward, but I need to punish him" when we've seen no indication as to why he would want Seven dead personally, but when Seven starts winning the fight, Blackbird isn't playing games anymore. He needs Seven dead. He needs to be the hero here. He's been conditioned as long as he's be training that someone else can take the prize, the notoriety, the reward, but he has to be the one to do the job. And it fuckin destroys him when he can't because he can't possibly fathom not being the hero. Because he's sacrificed his entire body and life for this, if he doesn't win this fight, if he can't be the hero here, then what was it all for? What was the point of his suffering and his pain? And ultimately he goes so far to justify his suffering that it gets him killed. Which is unfortunate because I kinda wanted to see more of his character, but it's so.. in line and dedicated to his motivations and character building. Like it's so on brand for him and it illustrates his character so well, I just hope we get to see flashbacks of him in the past so we can see more of his personality.

Manjusaka (the red woman): HOOOOOO BOY. So I also adore her design, I actually have a character I made (for a different thing, not related to S7) where I took inspiration from Manjusaka's coat because I just love her design so much. She's very.. confusing to me? I hope we get to see her in flashbacks too - or at least she somehow lives through the end of season four, though it seems unlikely) - because I don't understand her motivations, or why she was obsessed with Seven. Every other Shadow Killer has their own reasons for their relationship or fight with Seven, most of them boil down to greed or their pride, but with Manjusaka you just don't know. Of course she's obligated to at least TRY and kill him because the leader said "kill that man," but what's the reason for her "crush"? Her obsession? What purpose was there in killing the Girl in White - or at least lying to Seven that she did??? What about her mentioned previous obsession with Green Phoenix?? She's notably the only woman of the Shadow Killers, does her demeanor have anything to do with needing to be stronger than the men around her, similar to Eleven? I dunno! I want to know more. So badly. I feel like I'm gonna say "I WANNA KNOW MORE" about like all of these characters

Redtooth: I don't know if this is a hot take but I hated him back before season 3 came out. And even then I kinda still hated him up until season 4. I could not fucking fathom why everybody loved him, because his backstory just looked like "boohoo I signed up to be in a clan where I can't have a girlfriend and I want a girlfriend" , but I'm fucking THRILLED that season 4 went so in-depth with his story and emotions and really made it clear why he is the way he is. I mean, the show uses a lot of show-don't-tell, so it's not OBVIOUS obvious, but they laid it out in a way where he made sense to me and I could put together why he's like that. I think I had like three separate posts about him and his relationship with Huilian (do I call her Huilian, or jiang?? is Jiang the last name??) but I really wanna focus here: I fucking adore how his past and his relationship with Huilian shaped his relationship with Seven. He fought tooth and nail and gave up everything he ever wanted to become powerful and worth something, and when this scrawny, 15 year old kid becomes a Shadow Killer without a single kill to his name, Redtooth feels threatened by him. To dare imply that this kid could somehow be on the same level as him? And then Redtooth couldn't beat him in that fight - mostly because he got stopped by Green Phoenix - and Redtooth is fucking furious he can't win. He needs the be stronger than Seven, he has to be better than this literal child! And he isn't and his hatred just festers and festers and he just wants Seven dead. And it's not said out loud but this is so obviously because of the way he had been treated in the Heaven Lily sect, and it's just so insanely well written the way his past warps the way he interacts with the world around him. I think this goes for everybody, just their past and present always feel so beautifully connected and so well represented in the way they act.

Green Phoenix: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

okay actually. like I feel like there's so much to say about him and I don't know where to START bro. mainly I adore his relationship with Thirteen. During season 2 I was impartial about him, and during season 3 I did not like him - I mean I loved seeing him and he's so cool, but as a character I hated him (not as much as I did redtooth tho) because I only understood that he was just using Thirteen. He's such a glaringly obvious replacement for her father, he is her weakness in every situation because he matters so much to her, being that he's the closest thing she has to a father, even if he's ruthless - I mean, in her eyes, being ruthless and teaching her to be the way she is was all she ever wanted. And then in season 4 he admits that he used her, every step of the way, from the very beginning, and yet through all that he could never predict that he'd care for her so much and love her like a real daughter, I fucking cried. I cried so hard. I have so many daddy issues I do not know how to deconstruct these two's relationship. I mean, the show has such a MASSIVE emphasis on protection, and your loved ones, and Seven's constant motivation is his adoration for the bonds between the people around him, and just .. the most calculated and cold Shadow Killer, the "weakest" yet the smartest, being unable to account for the love he could feel for someone he saw like his daughter and letting that ruin his decade or better of planning. It's so perfect. He's so perfect. I love that he's not explicitly forgiven or he never tries to say that Thirteen shouldn't be upset. She's reasonably disappointed and you can see it in her face - but when he hands over his sword to her to take her as a real disciple, to pass on the art of Green Cloud as if she were his own daughter, he's not forgiven, it doesn't make up for it, but it means so much. Thirtreen changes his perspective forever - as the Prince of Green Cloud, it was always his priority, and his revenge for what the leader of the Shadow Killers did does not mean killing him, it doesn't mean destroying the Shadow Killers, but it means letting Green Cloud live on through Thirteen. He tried to kill all of Green Cloud and erase it and he failed, and Green Phoenix may not be able to kill the leader, or to ruin the Shadow Killers, but the key difference is: every Shadow Killer is doomed to die in the act of killing - as White Fox says - and they are. Green Cloud will never die. It lives on in Thirteen. But Redtooth has died and come back already, Green Phoenix is dead, Blackbird is dead, and Manjusaka is dead - or at least they were wounded fatally enough I don't think they're getting back up.

I think I love most of all how loveable all these characters are (Manjusaka is ....... sometimes, she is! She sure is a character sometimes!!) despite the fact they are point blank the villains in the story. That they're an obstacle that, in most cases, have to die. That doesn't stop them from being loveable, from having such intricate backstories and detailed personalities, and sometimes it feels like nobody is the villain aside from the leader, given how fervently everyone believes in their own motivations and wants. But that doesn't redeem or ignore the things they have done - Manjusaka killed a group of random people just for talking shit, Redtooth is a conniving, evil and broken man shaped by his past, Green Phoenix spent almost his entire life tunnel visioned on a revenge plan that ultimately almost ruined the person he cherished most, Blackbird is known for being somebody who tortures and psychologically ruins people, a brutal, prideful man with a fallen apart sect that he can no longer save. They've all done such objectively awful things and yet they're written so well and motivated so beautifully that it doesn't always justify or dismiss the things they've done, but you're capable of loving them anyways. Being an obstacle in Seven's path doesn't make them two dimensional or black and white 'evil.' The writing is just so insanely good in this fucking show. I feel like I could (andprobablyhave) go on for days about it because just. Everytime I feel like I'm done talking there's more to talk about. GOD this show needs a bigger fanbase there's so much thought and love put into it and just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sorry this answer got so long nonnie ;; I know you might've been expecting something a lot shorter and condensed just once I get started talking about this show I can't stop. I'm like a dog in a cage and if you put your fingers through the bars I WILL bite (start babbling about scissor seven) and I feel like this isn't even the full extent of how much I could talk about these motherfuckers. I do better when I'm asked specific questions because god there's just so much in this show and so much to talk about when I'm asked general questions it's so hard to get everything out. Anyways thank you so much for the opportunity to rant I love you with my heart I love meeting and talking to scissor seven fans it's so wonderful okay ily have a good day

#scissor seven #killer seven #wu liuqi #seven #blackbird #green phoenix #manjusaka #redtooth #i'm too lazy to tag the characters properly honestly #been a little bit since i talked about this show #still going insane as always it's just on the back burner in my mind #i need season five NOW #and i also need thirteen and seven to kiss #(i'm so normal guys i'ms o normal about them)#nobody ask me about seven and thirteen because then i REALLY won't shut the fuck u #thirteen

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